A turkey of an opening day

Well opening day of deer season has come and gone and my venison dinner is still unsecured.

In fact, despite spending every minute of daylight afield Saturday, I never saw a deer.

The most interesting thing I saw was a wild turkey that flew into the field from the woods and then trotted across to the brush on the far side. That kept me entertained for about 10 seconds.

I heard lots of shots, especially early and again late in the day. A guy who was hunting on the opposite side of the property from where I was hunting did shoot a doe, and he saw a few does milling almost under a tree stand where I often sit. It figures.

I had to work today but I plan to be back out there Monday. The question is do the deer plan on being out there as well or are they going to sleep in again?

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About Jeff

Join me on my hunting and fishing adventures around the Southern Tier of New York and occasionally other states. I am a writer with the Star-Gazette and when I'm not working, I am often enjoying the Great Outdoors with a shotgun, rifle or fishing rod in my hands. I look forward to hearing from readers.

At least you saw a doe. I got out again this morning and still didn’t see anything. But I found out from another guy that over the weekend a lot of does were hanging around a stand I often hunt out of. It figures they would show up when I wasn’t there.

Jeff,
I am from Hobart NY (in the Catskills) .We are a three points area now. Saturday here in my area was spotty to say the least. I have state land that is almost 1300 acres that I hunt on during deer season. Saturday seemed to be a “bad day for the first day in this state land. There have been some large racks been taken in other areas that are nearby. I hate to say this, but feel that the state should make all counties 3 points or better, would make a better deer heard population in the coming years. You can say what you want as to your opinion on this. This would put a challenge for me hunting, I like it better this way.

I have mixed feelings about the 3-point rule. It seems to be working OK in Pa., even though some hunters complained about it at first. Personally I think it should be a matter of individual choice. If you want to develop big racks on the bucks you hunt on your land, by all means be more selective. But at the same time, I would hate to tell someone who is more interested in venison in the freezer than a big rack…especially someone who only has limited time to hunt, that he should let that little buck walk. Then again if does are populous in an area, they taste just as good, so you can shoot a few does and let the smaller bucks walk. Again, I think it really depends on what each hunter’s goals are. So my answer is a definite maybe.